Home Again

Leaving the Black Hills area we traveled southwestward into Wyoming and visited Fort Laramie. This was a military fort, part of the country’s western expansion, and is now a national park.  We were surprised that it was built over such a large area and was more like a city than a fort because it did not have a wall like most forts have.    It served as a resupplying stop or starting place for covered wagon trains heading west along the Oregon Trail.   We had not planned on stopping here, but it was right along our route so we were pleased that we did.  It is worth the time if you happen to be in the area.

That night, we stopped in Cheyenne, WY.  Due to end of season ball tournaments, we had difficulty finding a room for the night.  We drove around the city some and saw LOTS of railroad tracks.  We didn’t realize (or did we just forget?) that Cheyenne is the capitol of the state. It is a rather small city (about 60,000) and almost not even “in” the state (only about 10 miles from Colorado). We realized that most of us think geography is the primary consideration for the location of a state capitol; but in Wyoming that was not the case.  We learned that Cheyenne is the most populous city in the state; and that, plus the railroad’s location here, probably made it a logical choice as the capitol. 

We continued south on I-25 toward our next major destination, Estes Park, CO.  We wanted to visit Rocky Mountain NP. This park was high on our list of parks to see; and in previous travels, we had not had the opportunity to visit it.  Estes Park is about 30 miles west of I-25.  We arrived in Estes Park in time to check into our motel and still visit Rocky Mountain NP that afternoon. Just a little out of town, we noticed a large crowd gathering around an area beside the road, and we knew it usually means wildlife is nearby. Sure enough, it was a large elk, with enormous antlers, leisurely grazing away right beside the road. We stopped and watched for several minutes and took a few nice photos. Then, we made a rather short loop drive through part of the park, and returned to town; knowing we would do a longer drive the next day. The setting here – town immediately adjacent to a national park – was reminiscent of another similar setting: that of Gatlinburg, TN and the Smoky Mountains NP, which was close to Oak Ridge, TN where we grew up. We love the Smoky Mountains, but Rocky Mt NP sure is beautiful.  It is at higher elevation with many more rugged, much sharper peaks above the timber line.

 

We had intended to stay a few days longer, enjoy the park, and visit friends here; but we began to realize that this trip was simply wearing us out (old age, perhaps) so we decided to cut it short and head toward home. We did, however, manage to stop through our old stomping grounds in Albuquerque, NM and meet several of our friends for dinner in Old Town for some great Mexican food. Just one more travel day to Tucson, beautiful sunsets, and home!

This chapter completes the summer 2013 portion of this blog.  In the future, we’ll post photos and ideas that we find interesting.  Hope you will join us once again.